March 29th, 2010
The noble
game of cricket was given a superb promotion by “Sparky Lady”
and “Royals” who combined to produce an entertaining display
of indoor cricketing skills, last Saturday, as the Super 4 stage of
ICUSA’s 2009/10 Annual Winter Indoor Cricket League Tournament
unfolded.

Deryck
McDonald and Qayaam Farouk of Royals. Sparky Lady (below)
during game plan.

In the Tournament’s first Semi-finals featuring these two teams
the fun loving portly gentlemen of “Sparky Lady” gave
a splendid performance in their worthy challenge to the calculative
“Royals” whose experienced cricketing skills were tested
to their maximum as they struggled to enhance their reputation as
favorites and eke out a victory in order to qualify for the finals.
Both teams must be complimented for producing a match that was befitting
the expected standards of a semi-finals game.

The under-dogs
“Sparky Lady” nearly created an upset by forcing the usually
chirpy “Royals” into moments of nervous silence during
various periods of the match. In the final analysis the records will
show “Royals” was the victor and “Sparky Lady”
was the vanquished but, to the true cricket lover the glory went to
the gentleman’s game of cricket.

On winning the
toss, “Royals” elected to bat and their opening pair
of Mahadeo Prasad and Sean Thompson sent them off to a flying start
with positive attacking batting, backed up by risky aggressive running,
as a deliberate tactic to pressure the fielders and blast the under-dogs
team “Sparky Lady” out of the game early. “Sparky
Lady”, took sometime to settle down as the significance of
the match created some butterflies in their minds.

These
factors lead to an opening partnership of 66 runs in spite of excellent
fielding by ‘Sparky Lady”. At that stage of the game
“Royals” were in the ascendancy. However, after the
initial tension “Sparky Lady” settled their nerves,
and proceeded to wrest the initiative from the batting side, with
an assortment of excellent restrictive bowling that was well supported
by the fielders.

The experienced
middle order batting of “Royals”- Nandalall and Mark
Gomes were restricted to 9, 6, 5, and 8 runs respectively in overs
5-8. This transferred the momentum of the game to “Sparky
Lady”. With the score on 94 “Royals” last pair
– the aggressive and in form batsman of the Tournament, Deryck
Mc Donald and the reputed fast scoring Qayaam Farrouq, combined,
with aggressive intent, to face the last 4 overs and close the innings
with a flourish. But Wasim, Musthasan Mirza and Sam Baby restricted
the pair to 29 runs with thoughtful accurate bowling supported by
their fielders.

The innings
closed at 123. While the “Royals” suffered only one
dismissal in their innings, the “Lady” bowlers bowled
25 dot balls in their allotted 72 legal deliveries to render the
batters scoreless for nearly one third of their innings. The “Royals”
score could have been worst if the “Sparky Lady” wicket
keepers who dropped 5 catches had not neglected to practice the
basics in the art of wicket-keeping.

They were rising
up too early and instead of moving across, in side-way fashion to
get behind the ball to collect it, they opted to stand and snatch
at the ball at the side of their bodies rather than moving to collect
it in front of their bodies. Captain Angelo Gonzales, an alumna
of ICUSA’s Training Academy, used his bowlers well and did
a sound job with his field placing. His team must have been satisfied
with their efforts in the field and fancy their chances in the run
chase.

As “Sparky
Lady” opening pair arrived at the crease, the “Royals”
were flirting with the reality that their score was gettable, and
that they had a challenge on their hands to avert an upset defeat.
“Sparky Lady’ openers Angelo Gonzales and Wasim got
their team off to a solid start with cautious and intelligent batting
which produced 40 runs. McDonald conceded 12 run while Qayaam gave
away 28. The second batting pair of Sam Baby and Prince Baby was
confronted with an all spin attack of Kumar Nandalall and Sean Thompson.

The pair of
batsmen accumulated an aggressive 50 runs to consolidate the work
of the openers. In the process over #7, bowled by Sean Thompson,
was blasted for 20 runs by Sam whose batting was aided by elegant
use of the feet to the spinners. Sam scored 29 runs and departed
with the momentum in “Sparky Lady’s” favor.

With the score
on 90 the last pair of Musthasan Mirza and Satish was left to score
34 for victory in the remaining 4 overs. And the pressure was mounting
on the “Royals”. “Royals”, drawing on their
vast cricketing experiences”, held their nerves, rediscovered
their characteristic chirpiness, and conceded only 9 runs in their
4 final overs which accounted for 3 dismissals to win the match
by ending the innings on 99 runs. Mahadeo Prashad excelled in his
2 over spell with 3 wickets for minus 6 runs as “Sparky Lady”
last pair of batsmen wilted under the pressure of accurate bowling
and fielding.

The match was
befitting of a semi-finals and it was consistent with the pattern
of exciting, entertaining, and enthralling indoor cricket that this
year’s Annual ICUSA Winter Indoor Cricket League Tournament
has been producing. The performance of the two semi-finalist players
did justice to the efforts of the Tournament Administrators who
ought to be inspired by the cricketers. “Sparky Lady”
was quite competitive while “Royals” quality was tested
and they passed the test with flying colors.

The second semi-finals
is scheduled for Saturday 04/03/10 between the youth team, “Stripes’
and last year’s champions “Galaxy”. The winner
will play “Royals” in the finals to be followed by the
presentation ceremony scheduled for 20:15 hours to end the Tournament.

Reporting for
ICUSA from Cricketer’s Paradise in Morristown, New Jersey.